Fatigue, Memory Loss Haunting Anthrax Victims

AMERICA: ANXIETY AT HOME

April 21, 2002|By Lena H. Sun, Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- Six months after inhaling anthrax spores, several of the mail workers who survived the deadly disease have yet to make a full recovery and are experiencing serious fatigue and memory loss.

In interviews with five of the six survivors of inhalational anthrax, four spoke of frequent exhaustion. Only one person, a 74-year-old Florida man, has returned to work. But others said they require daily naps after the slightest exertion. They and their families say they have also noticed marked problems with memory and concentration.

"The question is, why aren't these people back to normal?" said Mark Galbraith, an infectious-disease specialist in Virginia who is treating one of the victims.

The extent of the problems has highlighted for Galbraith and other physicians how little is known by the medical community about this illness and the potency of the toxins.

Eleven Americans, from Florida to Connecticut, contracted the inhaled form of anthrax after a rash of terrorist mailings to politicians and media outlets. Five died, including two postal workers from the Brentwood Road mail-processing center in Washington. Six were treated and survived; of those, three live in the Washington area.

"I'm just so tired," said David Hose, 59, of Winchester, Va., who was released from the hospital in November after 16 days of intensive treatment. Hose worked at the State Department's diplomatic mail facility in Sterling, where, investigators think, he inhaled anthrax spores from a letter addressed to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that was accidentally routed to the facility. He is trying to regain his strength through physical therapy but spends most of his time watching television because he has so little energy.

Bradley Perkins, the top anthrax expert at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said the CDC is aware of "complaints and concerns" among some of the inhalation survivors. The CDC is not currently conducting any systematic study of their health, he said, except for collecting blood samples to develop better vaccines.

Perkins said memory loss and fatigue could be results of the infection. Anthrax produces toxins, "and some could have impact on nerve tissues," he said. It is also possible that survivors are experiencing some form of post-traumatic stress syndrome, he added.